Modern networks including communication networks such as those used to communicate with cellular phones perform valuable services in transmitting voice and data information over often extensive distances. The level of the quality of the service provided by such networks is of interest and of importance to the user, as well as to the provider, of those services. Mobile receivers and/or transmitters used to communicate with wireless networks can offer special challenges in obtaining and maintaining reliable connections. The quality of service for cellular phone networks in particular could be measured in terms of signal strength as measured at various locations, noise on the network, clarity of received voice communications, accuracy of data transmission, number of dropped calls in a given total number of calls in a specified local or under specified conditions among other items. The measurement of the quality of such networks can present special challenges due to the fact that these networks can extend over large areas and due to their wireless nature.
Techniques used to measure quality in cellular networks include controlling a cellular phone locally via its USB (Universal Serial Bus) or other standard port which is connected to a computer with the cell phone connected to the network using its conventional means. Network parameters are then measured using the computer which could be a laptop computer. From various locals and under various conditions, the computer could instruct the cellular phone to dial the phone number of another cellular phone that also has a computer connected to it. The operator could send data to the other cell phone/computer combination and may then receive data back. In other tests voice messages could be sent and received. In both cases, measurements could be made to compare the received signal to that originally transmitted. However, due to the general quality and reliability of consumer cellular phones the measurements may not be repeatable and may not provide reliable results.
In another technique, a radio module is controlled directly by a computer using the operating system of the user's computer not the operating system of the cell phone. While meaningful measurements can be made using this technique, it does not actually measure the experience which the customer would have. This technique does not have many of the problems of controlling the cell phone and using it as a test device, but it cannot actually emulate a cell phone.